Honda recently launched its 2025 CRF450R and now announced that Hunter Lawrence, second in the 450 Class AMA Pro Motocross Championship standings entering round nine tomorrow, will race the new generation bike this weekend. Honda HRC MXGP rider Tim Gajser is currently leading the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) standings through the first 14 rounds on the new bike, but the machine will officially make its U.S. racing debut tomorrow at Unadilla MX. The press release states Hunter Lawrence will race the new machine at the final three Pro Motocross rounds before him and his brother Jett Lawrence (2023 450SMX Champion) race the bike at all three rounds in the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) this fall.

The following press release is from Honda HRC:

Hunter Lawrence to Give ’25 CRF450R its Race Debut at Unadilla MX

Team Honda HRC was highly involved in new bike’s development
2025 CRF450R has earned rave reviews from media outlets

NEW BERLIN, New York — Today at Media Day for Round 9 of the AMA Pro Motocross series, Team Honda HRC revealed that Hunter Lawrence will campaign the brand-new 2025 CRF450R during tomorrow’s race at Unadilla MX. Honda’s new premier-class bike has made waves in the industry since it was unveiled just two-and-a-half months ago at the series opener in Pala, California, and it garnered positive reviews following its press launch last month (which Hunter attended). Now the new bike—which is already arriving in Honda dealerships—will get an early race debut in Upstate New York.

Typically, teams stick with current model-year machinery throughout the calendar year. However, Hunter and his brother/teammate Jett Lawrence (currently sidelined with a thumb injury) have been big fans of the new platform since they rode an early prototype nearly two years ago. The 2025 CRF450R was developed in close collaboration with Team Honda HRC and the Lawrence brothers, as well as Team HRC in the MXGP Championship. Hunter and his team are confident that the bike will be competitive at the top level early, and making the switch now will give them a head start on gathering data and developing the factory version.

“I’m pumped to race the new bike this weekend here at Unadilla,” Hunter Lawrence said today. “I felt at home on the ’25 the first time I rode it, and it was fun for Jett and me to have the opportunity to give our input in the development of the production bike. Now it’s time to get to work on the factory version.”

Currently, the plan is for Hunter to race the 2025 CRF450R through the remainder of the AMA Pro Motocross series, and for him and Jett to use it for the upcoming SuperMotocross series.

“We’re proud of the success that the current CRF450R platform has enjoyed, winning all three AMA 450 Championships last year and following up with this year’s AMA Supercross crown,” said Team Honda HRC Manager Lars Lindstrom. “That said, we’re super excited to get to work developing the factory version of the 2025 CRF450R. The engineers have done an incredible job with the new bike, and we’re happy to see it performing well in media evaluations. We fully expect that with time, it will have a very successful record of its own.”

Hunter currently sits second in the AMA Pro Motocross 450 title chase. He has enjoyed success at Unadilla, earning last year’s overall win in the 250 class and finishing on the overall podium in 2022. This will be his first time racing the track in the premier class.